Ilkley, Yorkshire 1987

“When Spencer eventually reached his father in law’s house visibly shaken, the village clock and all the clocks in his house were an hour ahead of Spencer’s watch, leading him to believe that he had possibly been the victim of an alien abduction.” - Tim Barber 2021

Woohoo! Another alien one for you, the Archive will be rich with alien stories before you know it. We’re coming to my home of Yorkshire for this one, with a little man being spotted on the Ilkley Moors in 1987.

The moors themselves are steeped in history, boasting the largest concentration of cup and ring marked stones dating to the Neolithic in England and home to The Twelve Apostles (a stone circle), it’s no wonder this place has been scouted by aliens. The sighting itself came from the testimony of a retired police officer Philip Spencer. He was taking a jaunt over the moors on 1st December 1987, when something odd caught his eye.

Within the mist that hung over the moors that morning, Spencer saw a human-looking figure standing mysteriously in the low-visible weather. Naturally presuming it must be another walker, he continued on. But as he got closer to the figure, it seemed to be waving one of its arms, warning him to stay away.

Realising he'd brought his camera with him on this particular walk, and probably realising no one would believe him otherwise, Spencer snapped a photo of the creature, causing it to flee. Spencer tried to follow the little man, and within the mist he managed to see the top of a domed flying vehicle as it rose into the sky. He described the craft as being white in colour and boasted two saucer-shaped parts attached one on top of the other.

Here is the photo of the little dude… judge for yourself…

Spencer, confused most likely, reached his father-in-law’s house. He was shocked to notice that the village clock, and his father-in-law’s clock, was an hour ahead of Spencer’s own watch. The only reasonable explanation that Spencer could surmise is that he must have been abducted by the creature, and lost an hour of time.

Spencer made contact with UFO researchers Jenny Randles and Peter Hough just days after his incident. Spencer’s story was sold to newspapers, but interestingly enough Spencer demanded to remain anonymous and it is said that he made no money from his story. Hough sent Spencer’s photo of the little man to a wildlife expert, who claimed that the figure does not resemble any wildlife they know of.

According to another ufologist, Nick Redfern, Spencer was bothered by the Ministry of Defence a few days after the incident on the moor. They supposedly opened a file on Spencer, sending two ‘men in black’ to his home to ensure he spoke no further of his incident.

Hough urged Spencer to partake in regressive hypnotherapy to help with his nightmares. Jim Singleton, on 16 March 1988, commenced sessions with Spencer and under hypnosis Spencer's original account of the incident altered, which Singleton claimed felt genuine. Spencer’s new recollection stated that upon seeing the creature on the hill he was instantly paralysed, he was then lifted up a few feet by the craft, and entered it.

Spencer recalled a group of green aliens performing medical experiments on him, inserting items into his nose and mouth, before giving him a tour of the craft and being shown a film (apparently showing apocalyptic imagery, including nuclear explosions, famines and floods).

This story has been debated fiercely in the UFO community, many claiming the photo does not look tampered with, whilst others debunk the photo as being ‘too blurry’ or clearly of a cardboard man. Either way, there are some striking similarities to other UFO sightings of the time, like the Todmorden UFO from the same decade.